Polar Express
by Miley Owns My Gypsy Heart
Summary: The last time The Polar Express was the year that everything went wrong. Now five years later that fateful Christmas Eve still haunts the kids that were on that train ride. Miley Stewart and Shane Gray/Joe Jonas
1. Chapter 1

_**The last time the Polar Express ran was the year everything went wrong**_

_**CHAPTER ONE**_

**2013**

"So, Shaney-" I already knew I wasn't going to like what the next words out of her mouth were going to be. I didn't even like the first two - I hated be called Shaney.

"No." I denied before she could even finish in that pathetic pleading tone.

"But, you-" She blinked her big brown eyes at me and fluttered her lashes.

"Don't care." I shrugged, pushing Peggy off me none too lightly and getting up, reaching for my boxers on the floor.

"Why not?" Peggy huffed and I could feel her glaring at me.

"This is sex, Peggy, not a relationship. I don't do relationships." I told er not for the first time either.

"Who's Peggy?" The girl asked, sounding scandalised now. "My name is Anna."

"Huh." I mused before shrugging again and finding the rest of my clothes. "Still just sex."

"And who's Miley?" Peggy-Anna demanded angrily, apparently girls don't like it when I call them the wrong name for three months. But, that wasn't the part I was focussed on.

"I dunno." I tried to play it cool, the mere mention of the name made me sweat bullets.

"You say her name in your sleep." Anna accused as I got dressed.

"No, I don't." I denied, though I knew it was a lie. It wasn't the first time I'd been told I do that; it happened around this time of year for the last five years.

"Yes, you do, don't lie to me Shane!" Anna started to raise her voice.

"The fuck does it matter?" I asked, starting to angry myself. I didn't like being told what to do. "We're not dating, Anna, you don't get to be jealous, or tell me what to do." I shoved my shoes on roughly. "Look, you're a relationship girl." I sighed, I'd been wanting to drop her from my list for a while now. She was always trying to rope me into doing things with her. Things that weren't sex. "So why don't we just stop this and you go get a relationship guy that you can boss around." I suggest none too kindly.

That night I sat in my penthouse condo with a bottle of bourbon even though I couldn't _legally_ drink for another two years. I did this every year at Christmas time. It was December 1st and just like the year I was 14 I was having the nightmares again. Except when they start it was almost every night for five months. I took a swig of bourbon and sank into my couch with a sigh.

**2008**

"_Stupid carollers." I muttered, glaring at the group that was going door-to-door on Christmas Eve. "Let's see how you like this?" I twisted my hands around my baseball bat, creeping behind the trees until I was close enough to hear their whiney voices spewing out sickly Christmas songs. It was practically vomit inducing. I stepped out and swung my bat violently, cherishing in the sound of metal connecting with metal as I hit a mailbox which started the screaming. I ran forward, swinging at all the mailboxes and light poles leading up to the group as they scattered, running for their pathetic lives whilst I laughed._

_I continued on to the park when I was finished terrorising the neighbourhood, I couldn't be bothered going back 'home' tonight. It'd just mean waking up alone and abandoned on Christmas anyway so there was no point. I sat in the tunnel at the playground and stuck my head out the end, looking up at the stars. I didn't care that it was snowing and I was only wearing jeans and a hoodie, or that Christmas was only about ten minutes away and I was in a park. No-one was here to tell me what to do or dote all their stupid ass attention on some stupid toddler because their first kid was an admitted mistake. They weren't even in the county this year which is why they hadn't sent the cops out to fetch their little delinquent and keep me from messing up their perfect reputation._

"_Shit!" I swore, squinting my eyes against the bright light headed straight for me, growing bigger by the second. I jumped up and held my bat tightly; if it was cops I could outrun them, but if it was someone else from the streets I wasn't letting them get the jump on me. I slunk into the darkness, retreating away from the playground. A horn sounded and I frowned; what the Hell? That was a train horn and I was nowhere near a train track!_

_The light got closer and became more defined, showing the pointed front with a gold bell hanging from the top._

"_Fuck!" I turned tail and started running as fast as I could. I don't know how the Hell there was a train here, or what the Hell it was doing, but I wasn't going to stick around long enough for it to run over me just to find out. The problem was though, that the ground was slippery with snow and ice and no matter where I went the train followed until I fell on the icy grass. I hissed as my arm scraped along a patch of rocks on the ground and curled in on myself to do what little I could to protect myself as the train came roaring towards me._

_I held my breath and squeezed my eyes shut as the train screeched on tracks that had never been in the park before and there everything stopped. Still. Frozen._

"_ALL ABOARD!" A voice yelled and I uncurled, looking around as I jumped up. "ALL ABOARD!" The man yelled again, waving a lantern around as he walked along the side of the train. I backed up, prepared to start running again at any second. The man stopped ten feet from me. I held my breath, gripping my baseball bat and ignoring the sting in my arm. "Well? Are you coming?" The man asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world_

"_Who are you?" I demanded, glaring as venomously as I could manage._

"_The conductor, of course." He said, I rolled my eyes, he didn't have to treat me like a toddler._

"_Don't play dumb." I growled out, my breath coming in white puffs ahead of me. "Who the Hell are you? What is that thing? How did it get here?"_

"_I am the conductor and this." He paused for dramatic effect, but it just made me glare more. "Is the Polar Express!" He threw out an arm in presentation. "Now, are you coming?"_

"_Yeah, right." I scoffed, circling away from the train, but keeping the man at the same distance. "What? As soon as I get on the freaky ghost train you drug me and I wake up naked in some creepy motel?" I guessed with a sneer._

"_Young man, we are going to the North Pole in a warm vessel with food and company; if you do not wish to join in the hospitality you are more than welcome to remain here and suffer undoubted frostbite." The man frown at me,, sounding condescending as he stepped back towards the train. He hopped back onto a step and looked at me expectantly. How did he know I was alone? He was start to creep me, but in the corner of my eye I could see kids leaning out of the train to see what the hold up was. Kids. No adults, just dozens of kids in pajamas._

"_I'm not three, Dude, you need something better than the North Pole to fool me." Although the idea of being around others for Christmas was definitely more appealing than wandering the streets alone or going back to the stupid house and being alone whilst my parents were off their perfect little planned Angel of a brat that didn't ruin their lives. He just ruined mine._

"_Well, I can't force you." The man shook his head and lifted the lantern, ready to signal the driver._

"_Woah." I held one hand up whilst the other held the bat. "Someone has to make sure you're not some psycho whose gonna murder those kids." I narrowed my eyes at him as I jumped up onto the train and pushed past, finding myself stepping into a warming, brightly glowing compartment._

**2013**

I shook my head clear of the fuzzy memory; that was exactly the thing I was trying not to remember. I growled lowly and through my two-thirds empty bourbon at the fire place, watching with sick satisfaction as it went up in flames. I couldn't wait for this whole stupid holiday to be over; no more Christmas, no more memories, no more nightmares... No more Miley. I hadn't seen or heard from the girl in five years, but that didn't stop her from plaguing my dreams and thoughts every December.

Not that it would be difficult to find out what she was up to; she was on practically every billboard and music chart in the country. Concerts that sold out in minutes, singles on all the charts, token boy bander on her arm. All I'd have to do to find out about her was look out my freaking window. It wasn't easy when she was everywhere, but I'd learned to block it out. The first time I saw an ad for her CD on TV I almost a fit right there and I'd started having the dreams again. But, I stayed the fuck away from her!

I could open her up to that night again; I may be a mean bastard, but she'd been the exception to the rule since I stepped onto that train five years ago.

* * *

**Okay, so this is the other Christmas idea I got. Obviously I got this idea from The Polar Express. It's not really an overly cheerful story so far, and I'm not too sure how it will end up, but I thought I'd give it a shot.**

**This story is about the last time the Polar Express ran (5 years ago), the year that everything that could go wrong. Did go wrong.**

**5 Reviews if you want this one continued as well!**

**Smiler For Joe!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**CHAPTER TWO**_

**2013**

I stared at my pale reflection in the mirror; I had bags under my eyes from not sleeping, I was pale and clammy, and if someone asked me if I was okay one more time I was going to snap. One might think that after five years they'd stop asking and get that I don't want to talk about. I couldn't talk about for several reasons, the main ones being that no-one would believe me and have me thrown in a padded cell, and that it wasn't just me who would be affected. Dad made me see a shrink every Christmas because that's when the nightmares started; he thought it was a projection of my loss of Mom because she died just before my birthday and Christmas five year ago.

"Mile!" There were a couple of knocks on the dressing room door. I sighed, Dad was here which meant that the concert would be starting any minute now. Not that I couldn't already tell that from the noise of the thousands of screaming fans in the stadium. I grabbed my concealer and carefully covered up the bags as I called out to Dad that I'd be there in a minute, then I powdered a little blush on my cheeks so I didn't look so pale. luckily this was the last night of the tour so I didn't have to go through this every night of December.

I glanced at the calendar with that thought; it was December 1st, no wonder I'd had the dream last night. I'm actually surprised I didn't have one earlier, not that I'd ever hope to, but it was usually just the image of Christmas decorations of something from the holiday that brought them on. I pasted a smile on my face as I opened the door; I just had to get through the rest of the year and I should be fine again until next December.

I took my place back stage after the opening band had performed, waiting for my cue when the lights dimmed. I could hear the cheers, the thunderous clapping, the _screams_. Some of the confetti they were through had even reached, making it look like little rainbow snowflakes. I shuddered when a little red dot fluttered onto my hand. I glared at the dot, I'd had enough of little red dots!

I flicked it off my as my platform started to rise the assaulting screams of thousands of people became deafeningly loud as the music for my first song started to play. I looked up from my hand and suddenly the lights flashed across my vision and thousands of people disappeared, instead replaced by one. Just one boy.

**2008**

_I shivvered in the icy cold air. Running away probably hadn't been the smartest thing to do when wearing only pajamas, in hindsight. But, I hadn't really been thinking about the weather; I'd spent two hours staring at the mantel above the fireplace where the stockings were hung. One for me with my name in delicate gold, one for my older brother Jackson, one for my Dad. That's it! Just three stockings, not four. Why weren't there four stockings? Why did Mom have to die?_

_I couldn't stand to look at the mantel with only three stockings anymore so I jumped up and I didn't care about anything else as I ran. I ran as far and as fast as I could until I eventually collapse in the snow. I scrubbed at the tears on my face, not that it was any use, I'd been trying to stop crying for the last month since Mom died three days before my birthday. Now it was Christmas Eve and it certainly wasn't getting any better despite what Mam'aw said._

_The wind picked up, making me shiver more, I should have at least put shoes on. I couldn't even feel my toes anymore. I heard a horn in the distance, Dad was probably out looking for me in the truck, beeping the horn to get my attention. A light flashed in the distance between the trees of the forest behind the house. I made myself smaller, both for the heat and to stay hidden. I didn't want to go back to the house unless Mom was there. Mom was never going to be there again!_

_The light flashed again between the trees, bigger and brighter; definitely not a flashlight like I'd thought. I cupped my hands around my toes as my teeth chattered and I watched, the light was flashing more and more. The horn sounded again, not a car horn, longer this time and a lot louder. If it wasn't Jackson with a flashlight, or Dad beeping his horn then what was it? I held my breath and froze, waiting for it to go away, but it didn't. It got closer and closer!_

_I sat in shock when a giant black train appeared from nowhere in the middle of the forest, screeching along tracks that were never there before. Had I passed out and was dreaming about trains now? If I was asleep though, wouldn't I feel warmer? The train stopped as I gaped at it. I was imagining this; I had to be!_

"_ALL ABOARD!" A mans voice yelled, I squinted into the distance to see a big dark figure waving a light. "ALL ABOARD!" He yelled again. I tried to scramble away so I wouldn't be seen, but I couldn't seem to move. Maybe I'd actually frozen to the ground? "ALL ABOARD!" The figure was close enough now that I could tell it was a man in a blue suit with one of those funny hats the conductors on trains wear. "Well, hello there, young lady." He stopped in front of me, as if he knew I'd been there the whole time. "Would you like to come aboard?"_

"_Who are you?" I asked instead._

"_I am the conductor." The man replied, sweeping his hat off his head so I could the top was bald and shiny._

"_How did that get here?" I'm sure I would have noticed train tracks in the forest behind my house before._

"_Magic." The man leaned in and whispered like it was some big secret. "Come along now, we've got a tight schedule to keep." He held his hand out in invitation._

"_Where's it going?" If I was dreaming I could at least play along._

"_Why to the North Pole of course!" The conductor man stood up straight and held his arms out wide._

"_No it's not." I rolled my eyes, "you can't get a train from Tennessee to the North Pole, trains don't go on water." I said matter-of-factly._

"_Well, suit yourself, but it's nice and warm inside." The man shook his head, stepping back to the train._

"_You're a stranger, it's stupid to follow a strange old man when he offers you things." I said as he hopped up onto a step, lifting his lantern and waving it a couple of times. I jumped when the horn sound really loud and long._

"_A warm seat and some nice __**hot chocolate**__." The man tried to entice again, but I stayed where I was, I'd been warned about Stranger Danger before. I wasn't stupid. Even if it did look warm and comfy and there were a lot of kids there._

"_Hey!" Another voice yelled, a lot younger than the man, probably like around Jackson's age. The train started to move slowly. "You can't just leave her there." A boy pushed past the conductor man and ran over to me. "Come on!" He grabbed my hand. His skin was warm against mine. I tried to remember what time it was when I ran out of the house, probably hours ago. "Come on, or you'll get sick and die!" The boy sounded menacing and scary, and he was strong enough to pull me to my feet. The train was moving faster now, but not too fast since the boy was dragging me along beside it. "Hurry up!" The boy yelled at me as the train went faster still, but he was mostly dragging me along since I could barely move at all from the cold, let alone as fast as him. He groaned and stopped, suddenly picking me up and carrying me as he ran next to the train. The door to a train compartment was already open the boy practically threw me inside making me cry out from the pain as I hit the floor. Then he jumped in after me and slammed the door shut._  
_"Stupid ass conductor!" The boy muttered, kneeling next to me. I shivered and my teeth chattered as I tried to curl in on myself to get warmer. "She could have frozen to fucking death!" The boy yelled, I gasped, the last time Jackson said that word he got grounded for a week. In the light of the train I could see the boy now; he had black hair the fell on his forehead and almost into his eyes that were a vibrant brown color, his skin was olive and he was skinny but I knew that was strong since he'd carried me._

"_Do you know how many railroad violations you've broken, young man?" The conductor man frowned at him condescendingly._

"_Do you know you're an asshole?" The boy shot back, making the other kids in the compartment gasp. "She's a kid and she could have died and you were just going to leave her there."_

**2013**

"Miley!" I gasped and shook, the winter air from that night five years ago creeping into my bones. I wasn't on stage anymore! Where was I? "Miley?" Dad was shaking me, people were everywhere. Oh no, I'd zoned out again, only this time it was in front of thousands of people.

"Dad." I spoke and everyone seemed to freeze at that one syllable.

"Oh, thank God, Miley." Dad hugged me tightly, so tightly that I couldn't breath. "Are you okay, Bud? What happened? The doctor's on his way." He said in quick succession.

"I'm fine, Dad." I tried to look away from his concerned face as I lied.

"Fine? Miley, you totally spaced on stage." Jackson piped up across the room.

"I'm fine." I repeated, just like I told the shrinks, just like I told them every year, just like I told myself every time I looked in the mirror. But, I wasn't fine and they all knew it; the only difference was that only one other person in the world knew why I wasn't fine. The boy who had brought me onto that train when I was 11-years-old.

* * *

**Okay, so I know it's another short chapter, but bear with me.**

**Is anyone starting to see where this story is headed? I'm curious to hear what you guys think will happen to 14-year-old Shane and 11-year-old Miley to have affected them so much.**

**In case anyone had notice the icon for the story is the same as the icon for When The Snow Comes Down In Tinseltown and 12 Days Of Camera Christmas; that picture was actually for a different Christmas story I had started before my computer whipped out, luckily I'd already added the poster to fanfiction; unluckily I'd already put the 'Sexy Claus' thing on it so that's stuck there. Now, I've decided that Joe Jonas baring part of his chest wearing a Santa hat and red coat with fluffy white linings is going to be my Christmas mascot/poster for all my Christmas stories.**

**6 Review _por favor_?**

**Smiler For Joe!**


	3. Chapter 3

_**CHAPTER THREE**_

**2013**

"What?" I snapped into the phone when I answered it; who in the Hell felt the need to call me at this hour? Then I looked at the clock, okay so it was after noon and I was hung over the bourbon, but I was still pissed. The bourbon hand't been enough to stop the dream from coming last night.

"Shane?" I groaned and barely managed not to hang up on the young voice that had called me.

"What do you want?" I ran a hand over my face, I might need to shave today.

"Mom was gonna call you, but I wanted to." I winced at the mention of the woman who had two sons but managed to hate one whilst doting on the other. I wasn't the one she loved. I was the mistake that happened when my parents were drunk one night in college. Both of them were from rich families so the second I was born I was shoved off to the side with a nanny whilst Mom and Dad continued to live up their lives as if I didn't exist, only bringing me out for social events because people knew I existed. Until I was 11, then they decided they wanted to start a family and be parents... "There's a Christmas party and they want you to come." The little boy continued, oblivious to the inner turmoil his very existance caused me.

"No they don't." I scoffed, sitting up and glaring at nothing in particular. Today was not a good day to wake up.

"Sure they do. Mom says she wants the whole family there." It was so hard to hate the kid when he was so stupidly innocent. But, other times he was so easy to hate because he's the one that our parents wanted, chose to be around, loved. He's never known what it's like to wake up on his birthday alone in the house and not know what country his parents were in, to know what it was like to wait by the door with the phone in my hand and wait all day for one of them to call and say they remembered my birthday. They never did remember.

"She doesn't **want** me there." I corrected, "and I don't want to be there, she just thinks I have to be there because she was unfortunate enough to give birth to me."

"Come on, Shane, pleeeeaaaassseee?" Trevor whined, but today it wasn't cute, it was just annoying. Why didn't the kid understand that I wasn't a part of that family?

"How 'bout we make a deal?" I suggested, getting off the couch and heading for the kitchen. "I'll go to the stupid party and pretend to be a good little boy... When Hell freezes over." And then I hung up on my 8-year-old perfect little brother and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge with about four aspirin. "Fuck this." I muttered, heading back to the couch and grabbing my laptop off the coffee table. It was Monday, I should probably do some sort of work tday, but the day was already half over so I couldn't be bothered.

I'd gotten emancipated when I was 15 - 9 months after that stupid ass train nightmare - and had managed to get a percentage of my trust fund released to me, which I'd used to by an abandoned building in the city. After some paint, construction work, and electrical wiring - done by myself because no-one would take a 15-year-old kid seriously - I'd opened a music store with a recording studio in the back by the time I was 16.

**2008**

"_Are you okay?" I muttered to the shivering girl still on the floor of the train after the stupid ass 'conductor' creeper dude had left after I yelled at him. "Hey?" The girl wasn't responding. Sure it was probably stupid to jump off the train and grab her, I practically kidnapped her. But, I couldn't just leave a kid out in the snow to get frostbite and die, I may be a jerk, but I wasn't that much of an asshole... Unlike the conductor who was just going to leave her there. "What are you idiots staring at?" I snapped at the dozen or so kids who were crowded around staring at us. They all immediately turned away making me smirk a little to myself. "Here." I sighed, grabbing the girls hand and pulling her up onto a seat so she wasn't on the floor._

_When she was sitting on the seat next to me I could see tear stains on her face, and more droplets sparkling in her big blue eyes. Her hair was honey brown and cascading around her in soft waves that framed her face. I don't know why I had the overwhelming urge to see if her hair really was as soft as it looked. She was younger than me - everyone except the conductor was younger than me so far - probably about 10 or 11._

"_I'm Shane." I introduced myself when she didn't say anything. What if there was already something wrong with her._

"_Miley." A soft, country-lilted voice whispered, her blue eyes finally blinking and registering something. "Where am I?"_

"_On some weird ass train." I shrugged, relaxing a little now that she was talking. "That creeper dude was gonna leave you in the snow, but unlike him I didn't really want some innocent kid to die of frostbite." I explained, watching her eyes widen as I talked. "What were you doing out there anyway? Don't you know it's dangerous? You could have at least taken a jacket." As soon as I started talking again I noticed that she clamped up, her whole body seemed to stiffen and shy away from me._

"_Attention!"__ A voice came through the speakers in the compartment. __"Attention please!"__ It was the conductor. __"Would anyone like some __refreshments__?"__ Everyone started cheering and saying yes. Didn't these idiots know not to take anything from creepy old men? A second later the door burst open and I was assaulted with harsh thumping and clapping as a group of men stormed through. Singing. Of all things they were singing._

_The conductor was singing over the speaker about hot chocolate as the group of men stormed through the compartment with cups and a giant portable hot chocolate machine. What in the Hell sort of drugs were these people on?_

_My attention was away from the Miley girl long enough for her to slip past me and start to head for the back of the compartment, towards the doors that would lead to the next one. As she moved on of the weird singing men tried to shove a cup of drink in my face, but I got up and pushed past him. The dude was really persistant, following me with the cup, singing about it._

"_Seriously, Dude, stop it." I snapped at him, following after Miley._

_The singing hot chocolate guy noticed Miley as well, which prompted him to shove the drink in her face, expectantly waiting for her to take it._

"_Get lost!" I tried to push him away from her, but he ignored me and pressed closer to Miley, which made her stumble back in fright and collide with the trolley that had the big metal steaming hot thing on it. I watched in slow motion as the trolley rolled into one of the other singing guys who put his hands on the sizzling hot metal to stop it moving, which made him yelp and push it back towards Miley who was frozen on the spot. "Miley!" I panicked and for the second time in ten minutes, grabbed her and pulled her close to me, her small body fitting into my arms easily. The trolley rolled into the guy that had been trying to force hot chocolate onto us. He screamed like a toddler when a few drops of the brown liquid spilled onto his hand, he turned on the spot and tried to run away. The cup in his hands was carelessly tossed to the side, barely missing me and Miley, but spilling onto another of the singing men. he first guy who had been trying to pressure Miley and I got his foot stuck on the tablecoth of the cart, pulling the heater with him as he tried to run._

_I turned away and tried to cover as much of the small girl in my arms as possible when the giant metal heater tipped and all the boiling hot contents inside spilled over the other three - formerlly - singing hot chocolate servers._

_Before even half a minute was up the comprtment went from obnoxious singing and thumping to the agonised screams of six men with severe burns and the wails of frightened children whilst I tried to protect the shivering girl with the prettiest blue eyes I had ever seen who happened to also have to prettiest name I had ever heard._

**2013**

I blinked as reality slowly invaded my senses again. It was getting worse; the memories weren't even waiting for me to go to sleep anymore. I hadn't been able to stomach drinking hot chocolate since that night. The mere smell of it brought back the memories of the agonised screams of second degree burns blistering those men.

That had been the first thing that went wrong on the Polar Express. The conductor hadn't even done anything to help the men who were burnt, he didn't get the engineer to stop the magical train near a hospital to get them to a doctor; he just kept going. The waiters were ushered out of the compartment and told to keep quiet. When the train eventually did stop at its destination the natives had whisked the men away, glaring and muttering about the conductor as they went.

I closed my computer and got up, I couldn't think about this right now; my therapist was on holiday for another week and I didn't trust the freak that was supposed to be his replacement whilst he was gone. My guitar was sitting carelessly on my bed - where I hadn't bothered sleeping last night - but that didn't make me feel any better; the thunderous stomping and claps of the burnt waiters echoed through my mind again.  
Though, one of the few good things that happened that night was the music; Miley had sat in my lap in an empty compartment and told me about her mother as her fingers wandered over the strings of a guitar. This was that very same guitar, I hadn't been able to let go of it when the train dropped me off back in the park in the middle of the night on Christmas morning. Sometimes if I looked close enough I swear I could still see Miley's tear drops on the polished wood and hear the sweet little melody she'd played that night.

_**Polar Express**_

I did end up going to one of my stores before the end of the day. One of them; the newest one out of four. In the three and a half years since I opened the first one when I was 16 I'd opened another three stores. Moderately sized music stores with instruments of all kinds, CD's, records, record players - one of them even had an old gramaphone - and all of them with recording studios attached. Most of the time the studios were used by rich kids with no talent and too much money who would try and break into the music scene, but there were a handful of actual singer and musicians who used them on a regular basis which gave the shops a really good reputation.

Today was one of the days where an actual musician had decided to record. I'd gotten the call from my manager so I had drag my hung over, depressed ass out of my apartment and over to the fourth store. I didn't know who wanted to record today, but I made it a habit to at least make an appearance when someone high profile wanted to use one of the studios.

I wasn't prepared! Not in the least was I prepared for the sight that met me when I walked into the upstairs half of the store where the studio was. The singer was already here with her group. Her manager was sitting at the controls, Brody - my stor manager - was sitting in the corner observing. All I could do was stare at the singer in the soundproof booth.

All honey brown hair, tan skin and big blue eyes!

**2008**

"_Shit!" I swore, slowly turning back to the chaos of the rest of the train compartment. The girl in my arms was still shaking, all the kids were making noise, the stupid ass singing hot chocolate guys were in various stages of screaming in agony. The door at the front of the compartment slammed open making everything freeze for a second. The conductor was here and he looked pissed. "Come on." I held Miley's hand tightly and pulled her after me as I fled the carriage, jumping over the open tracks speeding beneath us into the next compartment at the back of the train. "Are you okay?" I turned to the girl who seemed small for her age when we were in the quiet, dark space._

"_Are they gonna be okay?" The girl looked up at me with those wide blue eyes that were filled with fear._

"_They'll be fine." I assured, trying to sound sincere, though I knew that they wouldn't be. They were probably burned quite badly._

"_You saved me twice now." The girl marvelled and for some reason I felt myself get red. I was usually the last guy who would help anyone unless it helped me as well, but I'd saved her twice now inside of half an hour with absolutely no personal gain to take from it. "Thank-you."_

"_Whatever." I muttered, walking away and staring out the window. Miley seemed to take my sudden change in mood as a rejection so I heard her sigh and patter her bare feet over to sit on one of the chairs in the compartment._

"_Where is this train actually going?" She asked after a long, silent moment._

"_Dunno." I shrugged, not turning around. "The creep in the hat insists it's going to the North Pole, but I'm pretty sure he's on some freaky mind tripping drug as well so I don't believe him for a second."_

"_Then why are you here?" Her voice was soft and had a country lilt to it with a bit of a husky undertone._

"_Someone had to make sure he doesn't murder everyone on board." I rolled my eyes, finally turning away from the window to see the girl in a chair that made her look tiny with her knees drawn up to her chest and her fingers clenched around her bare toes. I sighed as I looked at her, feeling like a jerk. I pulled my hoodie over my head so I was left in my green tee and tossed it at him._

"_Huh?" Miley looked confused for a second._

"_Put it on or you're gonna freeze to death." I told her, sitting in the chair next to hers and staring at her pointedly until she complied._

"_Thank-you." Her smile was shy and sweet and I felt like a total pussy when my stomach twisted with butterflies. _

"_Sure." I couldn't help but smile back; a real smile, with teeth and everything. It felt like a long time since I'd actually smiled._

* * *

**So that's the FIRST thing that went wrong on that Christmas Eve 5 years ago. What else do you think happened?**

**Okay, let's see if we can get 6 Reviews for this one?**

**Smiler For Joe!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**CHAPTER FOUR**_

**2013**

I was in a recording booth with a song I'd written last night after the disaster of a concert. I was supposed to be singing about Christmas wishes not coming true, but I'd frozen. It was just a small studio above a music store, which had three others just like it by the same person apparently, it had a really good reputation in certain circles and Dad had been lucky enough to hear about it. But, I never heard the name of the owner until I saw the man himself. He was staring at me in the same way I was staring at him; complete shock.

Shane Gray!

The boy I met five years on the cursed train on Christmas Eve. The one who saved my life on more than one occasion that night. The only other person in the world who knew why I had nightmares every year at Christmas time. I could see the person who said he was the manager of the store talking to my Dad and Shane, but my boy wasn't paying attention, he was just staring at me like I was staring at him.

"Miley!" Dad switched on the microphone into the sound proof booth I was in so he could talk to me. "Come on out and meet the owner." I obeyed mechanically, still in shock; of all the recording studios above music stores in all the country I had to be in the one that he owned? I could feel my heart racing the closer I got to the door. "Mile." Dad put his arm around me, he was still keep an extra close eye on me after last night. "This is Mister Gray, the owner of Music's Smile." I suddenly got a twist-y feeling in my stomach at the name of the store. It didn't take a genius to connect Smile to Miley... Did Shane name his store after me? "Mister Gray, this is my daughter, Miley Stewart."

"Hi." I forced the word out of my mouth. I hadn't seen this boy in five years since we were both broken kids on a doomed train to the North Pole. So much had happened that night that changed us both forever, but we'd only ever seen each other that once. Now I was faced with him for the second time in my life.

"Hey." Shane looked like he was having just as much trouble with the sudden reunion as I was. He was pale and his cheeks were flushed, he looked like he was trying to say something before he turned and fled the room without another word.

"I am so sorry." The manager - I think his name started with a B - started apologising profusely, saying nothing like that had happened before. I bet it hadn't, when Shane and I were together bad things tended to happen even if we didn't mean for them to.

**2008**

"_Tickets!" Even from a compartment behind I could heard the conductor man calling for tickets. The boy with tan skin and brown eyes and the best smile I had ever seen got up from where he'd been sitting next to me, both of us in silence, and looked through the window between the carriages. "Tickets, please." I gasped, I didn't have a ticket!_

"_Chill." Shane said, coming back from the door and sitting next to me again. "He does some weird reverse pick-pocket thing when you get one and gives you a ticket when you're not looking." He explained with a weird look on his face. He gestured at the pockets of the hoodie he'd given me and I hesitantly put my hands in to check; in each pocket my hand closed around apiece of flimsy card. A large golden ticket in each hand proudly proclaiming they were for a round trip on the Polar Express. "I told you; the man is some creepy ass psycho."_

"_Tickets, please." The conductor was in our compartment now, looking between us like we were monsters. I swear I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, I just didn't want hot chocolate and I'm not supposed to take things from strangers._

"_Umm?" I hesitantly handed him one of the golden tickets when he looked at me expectantly. He took it with a huff and clipped it once. Twice. He clipped the ticket about two dozen times before handing it back and snatching the ticket out of Shane's hand without a word. I raised my eyebrows at my newly punched ticket; the man had punch two letters into the ticket. M E. Why on Earth would the conductor punch the word ME into my ticket? Maybe Shane was right and he's on some sort of drugs?_

"_Freak." I heard Shane mutter when the conductor handed his ticket back as well with a huff._

"_You should be happy, Young Man, to know that the men you injured earlier are stable enough to make it back to the North Pole." The conductor looked down his nose at us. I gaped in disbelief, it wasn't Shane's fault those men were injured, he was just trying to protect me and an accident happened._

"_I didn't injure them." Shane stood up for himself, glaring at the man. "They burnt themselves, don't try and put the blame on me."_

"_I think it would be best if you didn't scare the younger children with your crass behaviour." The conductor said and Shane just rolled his eyes as he left._

"_He's a jerk." I frowned at the now closed door._

"_I know worse." Shane looked angry for a second before his face went back to normal._

"_Who could be worse? He's really mean and he tried to accuse you of hurting those men when you were protecting me." I shook my head._

"_You haven't met my mother." Shane rolled his eyes. I looked down sadly, remembering why I'd been crying in the snow. "Not that she'd ever be around to meet anyone I know." He added bitterly. "Or that I'd want her to meet anyone I know; she'd just suck the life out of anyone I cared about."_

"_I miss my Momma." I sniffled, unable to hold it in anymore as I felt the tears in my eyes again._

"_Where is she? I think mine's in Paris or something." I blinked quickly, I didn't want to cry in front of Shane, he probably hated people who cried and would leave me all alone._

"_She died." I managed to force the words out of my mouth, looking down at my feet with my toes peeking out from the edge of his hoodie._

"_Oh." Shane got really quiet. "I, uh, I'm sorry." He muttered, sounding like he wasn't sure what to do now._

**2013**

"'S'cuse me." I muttered, feeling my lungs constrict, even though Shane wasn't here anymore I couldn't stay in the room. I brushed away from Dad and burst out the door, practically gasping for breath. My vision was blurry as I tried to find a way outside. Fire escape! I spotted a fire escape on the side of the building and didn't waste any time stumbling over and fumbling until I was out in the icy winter air.

"Woah." Crap! I knew that voice. "Hey." I felt warm hands on my arms, but I struggled against him. He was the one I was trying to escape. "Hey, Miley, calm down." His fingers closed around my wrists and held me still. "Calm down, Kid, I got you." He murmured affectionately.

"Can't. Breathe." I gasped out, feeling dizzy, now I'd stopped fighting against Shane and was clinging to him to keep me up.

"Oh, fuck, Babe, you're having a panic attack!" Shane swore, his arms moving around me and helping me to sit. "It's okay, Miles, breathe." He commanded, holding me against his chest tightly. "Come on, Beautiful, feel my breathing, you can do it." He coaxed gently, his voice soft and his breath hot on my ear. I inhaled when Shane inhaled and exhaled when he exhaled until my breathing was even again and my heartrate slowed down a little. "Good girl." I relaxed against the warm body behind me; he'd change a lot in the last five years, but at the same time he was exactly the same as five years ago. His scent, his eyes, his smile, his sweetness.

"Thanks." I mumbled, closing my eyes and relishing the feeling of not feeling so **alone** for the first time in years.

"Whatever." His voice was rough and thick as he spoke, his lips brushing my ear.

"Still don't like being thanked for saving my life, huh?" I asked after a minute, earning a low chuckle.

"You still breathing is good enough." He replied, his arms still around me, holding my back to his chest so I could feel every inch of him.

"How've you been?" I spoke after at least another full minute.

"Okay, I guess." I could feel him shrug. "I own a few stores."

"Music's Smile." I commented, though it was more of a question.

"And Destiny's Melody." My throat constricted, I'd told Shane on that train five years ago that my birth name was Destiny Hope. "Song Of Hope." I gasped this time, it was becoming less and less coincidental, the way he named his stores. "The first one is Music For Miles. That was the first one I opened in September oh-nine" After that I wouldn't accept that it was a coincidence that all the stores sounded like something to do with my name, and he opened the first one nine months after our train ride.

"I think about you all the time too." I didn't know what to say, except that I do think about hi, all the time.

"How have you been?" He mimicked my question and in his deep voice - deeper than the last time I heard him - it sounded so much like a similar question he'd asked me before.

**2008**

"_How are you handling it?" The sweet Shane boy asked after a long time of silence after I told him my Mom died._

"_Huh?" I looked up, hastily whiping my face to hide the tears, though I was sure he'd already seen them._

"_Your Mom... How are you handling... it?" He avoided saying the word; Death._

"_I dunno" I shrugged, sniffling again and hugging my knees tighter._

"_Has anyone asked you before?" Shane questioned in a soft voice that was tinted with realisation. I shook my head silently. "When did it happen?"_

"_Last month." I muttered, keeping my eyes down. "A week before Thanksgiving." Which for a normal family would be bad enough. I had nothing to be thankful for this year. "Th-" I swallowed thickly. "-Three days before..." I peeked up when I heard Shane moving and he moved from his seat and squeezed in next to me; the seats were big enough for both of us easily when I scooted over and his slightly larger hand wrapped around mine._

"_Before what?" Shane prompted gently. I shook my head, I didn't want to talk anymore. His fingers felt warm entwined with mine. "Is that why you were in the snow?"_

"_There weren't four stockings on the chimney." I mumbled, whiping my cheeks again. "Only three."_

"_If it helps any I've never had any stockings on the chimney." Shane tried to comfort hesitantly._

"_Are you sad? Why aren't your Mom and Dad at home?" He said his parents were in Paris, and that he didn't like his Mom._

"_My parents always thought me being born was a mistake, so they just act like I don't exist." Shane said, I looked up at him to see him frowning ever so slightly, but completely passive other than that. "Last time I knew they were in Paris last month, but I'm not sure if they're still there with Trevor."_

"_Who's Trevor?" I couldn't stop myself from asking._

"_Their other kid, the one they actually wanted. He's, like three or something now." He explained, starting to sound a little bitter. "I'm not sad about it." Shane answered my original question after a moment when I didn't know what to say. "Pissed, disappointed, angry... I haven't been sad about it in a long time."_

"_Is that why you're here?"_

"_Had nowhere else to be." Shane shrugged, it was sad. Even if Shane wasn't sad about it, I was sad for him. "Besides, at least now I get to spend Christmas morning with a pretty girl." I couldn't help the butterflies in stomach and the warmth on my cheeks when he kissed my cheek lightly._

* * *

**Well, I thought I should finally update this :)**

**A little more insight into Miley's side of the story; what did you think of the names of Shane's shops?**

**Smiler For Joe!**


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